Author: JD Pendry

On September 11, 2001, I was in my office interviewing a client. I heard some chatter pick up outside the door. Then someone poked their head around the corner and told me an airplane just crashed into the World Trade Center. My first thought was everyone’s first thought. How in the world does an airplane manage to crash into the World Trade Center? I figured it was a small private plane, maybe some tourist ride around the skyline. While I was thinking that, word came that a second crashed into the other tower. And they were both airliners. Clearly they were not accidents. Then we heard of the one crashing into the Pentagon.

At my first opportunity, I sent out an email to all of my contacts around DC. Having just left the area two years earlier, I still had plenty of friends and contacts there. Soon the responses came. “I can see the Pentagon smoke from the window.” “The traffic is already in gridlock.” The DCSPER (Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel) and the Sergeant Major are unaccounted for.” “Dave, I have not heard from Larry.” Those last two responses were like a gut punch. The DSCPER Sergeant Major was Larry Strickland. A Soldier I had known and respected for quite some time. That second email was from Command Sergeant Major Debra Strickland, Larry’s wife. As time passed, it became clear that Larry was a casualty of war. To make this story even more difficult to take, Larry and Debra were scheduled to retire together within a few days. Larry did not have to be in the path of that airliner. But, like the old pro he was, he was there briefing his replacement and ensuring a smooth transition into one of the Army’s more important enlisted jobs.

In moments, lives were lost, families destroyed, and lifetime dreams stolen. Taken by dark soulless men. This story is but one of thousands just like it. I am angered every time September 11 nears and I am certain it is much worse for those families directly touched by evil.

Now, we have another scourge of soulless murderers rampaging across the Middle East. From the religion of peace I am told. I am also reminded that these psychopaths only represent a tiny percentage of Muslims. I wonder, where are that majority of peace loving people? The ones who do not support beheading and decapitating children and mass executions. I wonder. Are they silenced into fear or are they complicit. Certainly if there was a desire, these billions of moderate Muslims could overwhelm and remove this tiny percentage. If there was a desire. Or, maybe there is no radical Islam. No moderate Islam. Maybe there is just an Islam.

As September 11 approaches, we still have a missing Malaysian airliner. We have no proof that it crashed. Adding to that, we learn that ISIS has control of 11 commercial airliners taken from the Tripoli airport. Ah, Libya. Such a free and peaceful place after we enabled ISIS to remove that despicable Ghadaffi.

The president ensured our NATO allies that we would degrade and destroy ISIS or at least render it to a manageable problem. Turn it into a manageable problem. Now that certainly is the strategy I had in mind. Straight from the Whitehouse junior varsity brain storming sessions led by JV coach and defacto president Jarrett. I feel better now. A manageable problem. Just for your education Mr. President. The NATO alliance has always worked like this. America leads. NATO follows.

Crazy Uncle Joe Biden had a different take. His strategy? We will follow them to the gates of hell. That one is a little worn out Joe. I can just see the ISIS murderers girding their loins and heading for the hills. Uncle Joe struck fear into their evil hearts.

A favorite expression in my world Joe is that action talks and bovine scatology walks. Manageable problems and the gates of hell. I am inspired. The problem Joe is that you and many like you and your boss shook your fist at God. Through your actions, what you believe, and what you support, you have already taken America to the gates of hell and pulled them wide open. Beelzebub’s evil army marched right out. So there you stand. Facing down evil.

We opened up our southern borders. We have large areas in this country that are sending recruits to ISIS. We probably have thousands of them here right now in the good old US of A. Ready and willing to create another more spectacular September 11. Welcome to the on ramp to the gates of hell.

A manageable problem? You have not discovered one yet. Maybe Michelle can offer them nutritious lunch boxes. I understand the schools have plenty of those left over.

© 2014 J. D. Pendry American Journal

Being an Army Drill Sergeant back in the 80’s forever ruined my pattern of sleep. It was not unusual that I was wide awake when the coal train rolled through at 3 AM (0300 for you old Soldiers). Hearing the train’s whistle was sort of calming although not a whistle at all but, a rather loud ear splitting horn. The sound of it however was faint from my perch up the hill. A short blast followed by a couple of long ones and another short one and repeated at several crossings was familiar. When the horn faded, only the rumbling remained until all of the sound faded into quiet darkness.

During the quiet, my mind dwelled on things raising a little anxiety here and there. Odd, but I was not feeling safe in my own country. The home of the free. The land that God blessed. Was I prepared for the impending disaster? I knew it was coming. Did I have enough food? Did I have what I needed to protect my home and family? Could I count on the government to meet any of my needs? I know. One of those is a silly question. By then, sleep had left me so I did what I was accustomed to doing. Switching on the coffee pot and trying to figure out how we got in such a predicament and more importantly who if anyone will lead us out of it.

Jimmy Carter had the answer. It was to remove from power the Shah of Iran. In Jimmy Carter’s world the secular Shah was a despot, a powerful and brutal leader. It would be better if the Shah was gone and replaced with that great and moderate religious man. The Ayatollah Khomeini. I can still recall a breathless Peter Jennings reporting from Iran what a glorious day it was for the Iranian people as the Ayatollah paraded through the streets. Well, we know how all of that turned out.

Liberals, progressives, communists whatever you choose to name them this week are slow learners. When they are in charge – now it seems of the whole world – people die and often by the millions.

If you travel a little farther back in history, you can find collaboration between Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. Since their goals were the same, kill all of the Jews, the Mufti looked for Hitler’s support. And Hitler promised it. Well Adolf took up residence in hell, but the Islamic goal of killing all of the Jews remains. You can trace it to Biblical times if you are so inclined. What ISIS is doing now started many centuries ago. It can only be stopped the way it has been stopped throughout history.

A few years ago, a million Iranians were in the streets trying to overthrow those moderate religious leaders that liberal thinking helped in to power. They wanted our help to oust the oppressive theocracy. The response from our White House was that we should not meddle in the affairs of other countries. For anyone with just a smidgen (the president likes that word) of information about our dealings with that part of the world, that statement could make your 4AM (0400) morning coffee shoot out of your nose.

Keeping in mind that we do not meddle in the affairs of other countries, what have our liberal leaders accomplished? They pushed out Egypt’s secular Hosni Mubarak in favor of the Islamic Sharia law desirous Muslim Brotherhood. They called it the Arab Spring and the liberal media again gushed at the possibilities for the future. Promptly, we gave the Muslim Brotherhood billions of dollars worth of military equipment. Fortunately for us, the Egyptian people were not having it. Now Egypt, like others around the world sits wondering if America is a friend.

In Libya, they felt it was necessary to rid the people of their secular strong man leader Muammar Gaddafi. The man who had been fearfully silent for quite some time. Our, I don’t need no stinkin’ Congress, president decided he would bomb the “rebels” into power. They promptly captured Gaddafi and shot him in the head. We then began a gun-running operation out of Benghazi to what some have speculated were the Syrian “rebels.” Then just in the nick of time some guy no one ever heard of made a video that no one ever seen and the infuriated natives ended the gun running operation by killing our ambassador and others – all of them waiting for the help that was not coming. Hillary then questioned at this point, what difference does any of it make?

Over in Syria, the “rebels” we armed were trying to remove another secular strong man, Bashar al-Assad. Turns out the “rebels” were of the ISIS variety. Following liberals down the path to our own destruction is really working out well for us is it not? Ah, but not to worry. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner will fix everything after November.

In all of these countries, the liberals have tried to remove anyone who stands in the way of implementing Islamic Sharia Law. They learned nothing from Hamas cheerleader Jimmy Carter.

Looking over to Europe the liberals saw what a great success open borders were for multiculturalism. So much so that that England’s own Imam can now appear on an American television program and declare that Sharia is coming to America and there is nothing we can do about it. So our leadership still embracing the Muslim Brotherhood decided to open our borders. We now see that ISIS is operating just across our southern border in Juarez, Mexico. They are not there for the hookers and tequila.

Mr. President, I know you believe history began with you. Might I suggest that you read another piece of current history? Read about the Islamist attack on a middle school in Beslan, Russia. Maybe Sharia is coming to a town near us. You and the circle of idiots surrounding you, supporting you from Congress, inside our Department of Defense, and in the media will own it. I am thinking the American people will not be very appreciative.

Republicans, you just keep sitting there and saying we are not them and everything will be good after November. We do not have until November and you too will own whatever happens.

© 2014 J. D. Pendry American Journal

In 1964, a half-century ago, President Lyndon Banes Johnson (LBJ) declared war on poverty. In his Great Society Speech, LBJ laid out the utopian big government progressive road map for America. Today, we are still living with his utopian ideology. Still following his Great Society road map leading us to our own destruction. He spoke about the importance of leisure time, saving the environment, and changing our education system. For progressives, not much has changed in their quest for a more perfect union. As Nancy Pelosi told us, one does not have to worry about working now. With Obamacare, one can now take the time to write poetry or paint a portrait.

After 50 years, the war on poverty has failed the people it was supposedly meant to help.

The collapse of marriage in low-income communities has played a substantial role in the declining capacity for self-support. In 1963, 6% of American children were born out of wedlock. Today the number stands at 41%. As benefits swelled, welfare increasingly served as a substitute for a bread-winning husband in the home.

According to the Heritage Foundation’s analysis, children raised in the growing number of single-parent homes are four times more likely to be living in poverty than children reared by married parents of the same education level. Children who grow up without a father in the home are also more likely to suffer from a broad array of social and behavioral problems. The consequences continue into adulthood: Children raised by single parents are three times more likely to end up in jail and 50% more likely to be poor as adults. The Heritage Foundation

“The War on Poverty has arguably destroyed the black nuclear family,” said Project 21’s Christopher Arps. “Roughly 75 percent of black children were born to a married two-parent family when the ‘war’ began in 1964. By 2008, the percentage of black babies born out of wedlock numbered over 72 percent. Today, the rate of unwed motherhood in the black community is more than twice as high as among whites — and almost three times higher than before big government’s grand intervention. And all this comes at a steep financial cost. The federal government has spent an estimated $15 trillion dollars to end poverty. Government reportedly spent $20,610 on every poor individual and $61,830 per poor family in 2012.” – Christopher Arps Project 21 Press Release, War on Poverty

We have communities of people, generations of children, trapped in low-income housing neighborhoods. Progressivism effectively placed them on an inner-city reservation and kept them dependent on government handouts giving them no incentive to leave. As statistics document, too many children are growing up in single-mother homes. I grew up watching my Father go to work every day. That is how a child learns a work ethic and responsibility. Without a father figure, whose example does a young man follow? From whom does he learn responsibility, work ethic, how to be a man? Big Mike’s ambition was to be a rapper.

Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are prominent examples of the people made wealthy by LBJ’s progressive Great Society. These two men hold themselves up to be ministers of the gospel. Reverent men. Men of the cloth. The prey on those who are enslaved to government dependence and reside in those inner city reservations. They are always on the scene whipping up fervor and chanting no justice no peace. Added by outsiders, like Malik Shabazz and his new black panthers, they incite riots and looting. People loot and burn the businesses in their own communities. Al and Jesse ride off into the sunset to their palatial digs, leaving destruction and hatred in the wake of their limos. These men are no more than race charlatans preying on their own people.

If Al and Jesse were true to their titles, Christian ministers, the first time they showed up in Ferguson would not have been after a young man died. If they were true to their titles; if they cared a whit about anyone except Al and Jesse, they would live in those neighborhoods. They would be trying to put families back together, showing young people the pathway out. They would be trying to replace gang banging, looting, dope smoking… with Christian ministry and God. But that is not Al and Jesse. Al and Jesse need victims with straw men enemies. If they really cared and had any courage, they would be in Chicago trying to stop the senseless killings taking place there. Following people such as these is a sure way to remain trapped in the hood. Because this is where they need and want black Americans.

Then there are the Democrats, for who most black Americans vote. It was Democrats who opposed school desegregation, who set dogs and fire hoses on peacefully protesting people. It was Democrats who founded the Klu Klux Klan. It was a Democrat Senator and Klu Klux Klan member Robert C Byrd who filibustered the Civil Rights Act – one of LBJ’s Great Society Democrats. It was the Republicans voting that passed it. Black people vote for Democrats each and every election, and as the statistics clearly show they are no better off for it than they were 50 years ago. With the Great Society’s decimation of the black family, they are arguably worse off.

The white liberal media loves to fan the flames and report misinformation even to the point of editing a recorded 911 call to make George Zimmerman sound racist, and in the Michael Brown case as is typical going to press with the first unverified accounts they heard because they fit with their preconceived story line.

The President and his Attorney General add fuel to these fires and it is most certain that the police officer will be indicted, have his life destroyed in the process and when all the facts are out it will be the same story. Lives destroyed, communities torn apart and nothing will be accomplished that will save the next Michael Brown or the next scourge of looting and rioting. The only thing that will save the future for this lost generation of youth is a U-turn from the past 50 years of progressivism. Progressivism kills in every place and in every situation it is tried.

© 2014 J. D. Pendry American Journal